Fighting Parkinson’s, and chipping away, day by day…again

I have received a few recent emails from people who are new to the blog and who came upon a post they found very meaningful. I took this as a sign that I needed to bring this post to the forefront again. It is about chipping away at your recovery, day by day, filled with lots of faith, a good attitude, plenty of action, making progress. It is the way of the Parkinson’s Recipe for Recovery®…the way to your cure!

Here it is again, from Fighting Parkinson’s, and chipping away, day by day:

“I was on a coaching call a couple of days ago and was questioned about how Qigong works, basically, what is it really doing because sometimes it is hard to know if it is doing anything at all. After a deep discussion about Qigong in general, followed by a discussion of Qigong in the Recipe for Recovery, it made sense to the person, and she suggested I write about because she felt it would be meaningful for all of you. Ultimately, it comes down to faith, attitude, and action to make progress…I will begin, as I did with her on Wednesday, and start with action.

Action. In my Recipe for Recovery, there are Qigong exercises that require us to take action to fight our Parkinson’s. These are not general Qigong exercises that one would learn taking an introductory Qigong class. These are medical Qigong exercises designed to heal the liver and kidneys and help them function better. Since I view one of the causes of Parkinson’s as: “Kidney and Liver Wind Deficiency, which is caused by overwork and insufficient rest which unbalances the body’s natural rhythm,” I researched medical Qigong to focus my initial action to rectify these deficiencies.

Qigong in general. Our hearts pump our blood through our bodies. Our lymph system needs our assistance to move it throughout our bodies to build up immunity and cleanse toxins. Enter Qigong. Qigong is known as a soft exercise in that it does not require a whole lot of physical exertion, but it still still builds up internal energy because we are moving our bodies slowly and stimulating our lymph system.

Medical Qigong for Liver and Kidneys in the Recipe for Recovery. The slow Qigong movements are focused on these specific organs. However, there are additional benefits. The liver is paired with the gallbladder as an organ system. The kidneys are paired with the bladder as an organ system. And, the lungs (it is not possible to do these Qigong exercises without breathing in a whole lot more oxygen than just sitting around) are paired with the large intestine as an organ system.

So, by doing these Qigong exercises, we are working on healing our liver, gallbladder, kidneys, bladder, lungs and large intestine. It is why many people have reported back to me that within days of beginning the Recipe for Recovery, they notice an increase in energy, their bowel movements have become regular and easy, their sense of smell has returned, that although they still feel pain their shoulders and knees are looser, they can turn their head and look back when backing up their car…these are small signs of progress, but they are signs of progress nonetheless.

Here is how I envision the Qigong is working: I am going back to my Titanic analogy, but taking it to the next level. Here is what I have said on this point in the past: “You did not get Parkinson’s the day you got diagnosed, and it is not going to go away the day after the diagnosis. The captain of the Titanic only saw the tip of the iceberg, if that, but an ice mountain had been growing for a long time beneath the surface. When Parkinson’s finally breaks to the surface, there are a mountain of layers below that need to be dealt with to beat the disease.”

Now, envision the mountain of ice below the surface that sunk the Titanic. Further, envision that you are placed deep into the center of this mountain of ice and you have a tiny hammer and chisel. Your goal is that each day you will chip away at the ice in a symmetrical manner. To an onlooker at the surface, they cannot even see you are in there chipping away. To an onlooker at the surface, the iceberg looks just as solid as it did the very first time they saw it.

Every day you are chipping away more and more, and every day the onlooker at the surface sees no progress. On one particular day, somebody who knows you are in there tells the onlooker, “Hey, there is a person in the middle of that iceberg with a small hammer and chisel chipping away.” The onlooker shakes their head and tells the person, “If that is so, they are crazy and they are wasting their time. I have been looking at this iceberg every day and I see absolutely no change at all.”

Ask yourself this: “If every day I am inside that iceberg chipping away and watching the hole inside get larger and larger, aren’t I making progress?” And, ask yourself this: “If every day I am inside that iceberg chipping away and watching the hole inside get larger and larger, does it really matter what the iceberg looks like on the surface in determining whether I am making progress?” How about this: “When I chip away at this iceberg in a symmetrical manner and I finally reach the outer edges, won’t the entire iceberg go away and won’t it happen quickly?”

There it is in a nutshell (or iceberg), how the Recipe for Recovery works. After nine months of doing the recipe and seeing very little improvement of my symptoms, I started seeing a lot of improvement and two weeks later I had no symptoms. The causes were removed and the disease went away. This is also known as full recovery.

The Qigong in the Recipe amounts to us taking action. The Qigong in the Recipe amounts to us chipping away at the iceberg from the inside out. To an onlooker, we look like we are accomplishing nothing, that we are crazy and wasting our time. Yes, our symptoms are an annoyance and an inconvenience, but I was not focused on relieving my symptoms. Instead, I was focused on ridding myself of Parkinson’s, and then the symptoms would go away. Actually experiencing the symptoms is what gave me the insight to understand what needed to be accomplished to beat this disease. I saw the enemy, I was able to endure what it had to deliver, I learned what I needed to learn to defeat it, and I took action. Every day we do something to defeat this disease we are making progress.

That is Qigong for the Liver and Kidneys…even though we may not feel our organs healing from deep inside, they are. How do I know this? Faith, and success. I recovered. It is why I named today’s post “Fighting Parkinson’s, and faith, attitude, action, progress.”

Faith. At the beginning, we have to have faith in our own recovery and faith in the process we are using to lead us down the path to recovery.

Attitude. We have to keep a good attitude that no matter how we feel, we are making progress because we have faith that we are on the correct path.

Action. I have said many times that faith without action is meaningless for Parkinson’s recovery. Action proves faith! Action says, “I so firmly believe that I will recover that I am willing to do Qigong exercises every day even if I cannot actually feel them healing me from deep within and even if I do not get immediate relief of my symptoms.” Some people think this kind of faith is crazy. I feel that this kind of faith leads to recovery. Did you ever stop to think that the same people who call this kind of faith crazy actually have no faith at all in recovery — they still feel that one cannot recover from Parkinson’s. We are proving them wrong.

Progress. Every day you wake up in the morning you are making progress in the path of life. Every day you do something in furtherance of fighting your Parkinson’s you are making progress on the path of Parkinson’s recovery. With strong faith, a great attitude, and proper action, you come to the realization that every day you employ this formula, you are making progress.

And, one day you may wake up making progress in the path of life and realize that you have successfully completed the path of Parkinson’s recovery. It will be overwhelming.”

When you heal yourself from the inside, chipping away, day by day, saying “okay” to whatever it is that Parkinson’s is throwing at you, you are making progress day by day and you take control of your Parkinson’s.

When Parkinson’s says, “How about more tremors or rigidity or pain” and you say “okay,” who is knocked off balance? Your Parkinson’s gets confused. It does not know if you are saying, “okay, let me have some” or “okay, that sounds exciting” or, the one that puts fear into your Parkinson’s and gives it tremors, “okay, I know I am recovering, so I accept that whatever it is that you do to me, it is nothing more than something I will have to endure on my path to recovery.”

The more fear you give your Parkinson’s, the more it will run away from you. When Parkinson’s tries to give you fear, choose faith. Your faith, in turn, puts fear in Parkinson’s — that is how you control your Parkinson’s instead of it controlling you.

So, grab onto the Recipe for Recovery, say, “okay,” and chip away, day by day, with the full faith in your heart and soul that you are on your path toward recovery.

15 Responses to Fighting Parkinson’s, and chipping away, day by day…again

Never get tired of hearing your words of wisdom and recovery, Howard!
I have been taking the wrong approach in speaking to my Parkinson’s: I have been crying and yelling at it that I hate it, I don’t want it, and go away! Thanx for the
enlightenment, Howard! Thanx for pointing us in the right direction. Judy

Hi Howard and fellow soldiers. Inspirational as always and talking of which. I myself only found Howard in June, so like I said last week, when I struggle, I head for the Archives on the site. Last weekend I had an idea and printed of all my favourite blogs that I have found ( so far as have not got through them all 😉 )
I placed them in a flip binder. So now, to hand, I have my blue folder of INSPIRATION & GUIDANCE. Every good soldier should have a map nearby at all times, now I have mine. “Bailing fear from your boat( oct 6th 2012), “moving like a tortoise ( oct 15th 2012 and ” Being the fearless tortoise ( aug 8th 2014) are to name but a few of my favourites! Today’s post is also there in my wonderful blue folder. I can’t tell you all how empowering it is to have my new folder at hand. You should make a book out of them all Howard, it would be a best seller! It could be like ” ingredients for the Receipe For Recovery” haha.
With Love and Gratitude as always,
Karen xxx

Hi Howard,
The timing was perfect, ineeded this to keep faith…
as I came back from a tvcasting and for the first time had to stop because my arm was very much shaking for the first time.
I could not concentrate and told the people openly what I have.
It was a painful and a sad experience.

Now i don’t know what to do with my busy schedule just starting up next week.
Being in front of an audience and classroom makes me nervous for the first time .
Does anybody like to give me some feetback.

Now that you have reached a point of vulnerability in telling others what you have, Parkinson’s, you do not need to be afraid. If you keep your heart open and know that you are the same person who always performed well with no fear, then you do have to be nervous and your symptoms will bother you less when you are performing or in the classroom. Stay in your heart with compassion for yourself and your audience and you will do great!

I love this image of the shoemaker in the iceberg making ice clogs to dance in and celebrate by laughing even if the symptom picture degrades. You have given me hope in the darkness, and Dianyu {and that would have been enough}>. But then you showed me Faith in MY recovery and Dianyu that would have been enough. But then you showed me the truth, that I AM WORTH IT AND OKAY I have to float through a little junk right now but ALL WILL BE WELL!

Hi last time I wrote on the blog I was going to see my sister and was scared as she has mental health issues and anger. Howard suggested I just approach her with love when I see her. Which is what I did. It broke the ice when I hugged her. I was focusing on what her reaction would be not on my self and staying kind and in my centre. I just thought I would share this. As sometimes fear of something can be so strong. Facing life with love and courage is fighting Parkinson’s. Thank you Howard for your loving help. Cheers Helen

Just wanted to say to Sylvia, that I truly feel for her. I said a prayer to give you strength. I will leave the words of wisdom to Howard, I am sure he will contact you with guidance. Just know, in time, it will all be a memory, the tremor right now is just part of your journey. With you in spirit Sylvia. 😉
Karen x

Thanks to Howard and to all of you for sharing and caring. Thanks for your kind words of inspiration and wisdom. I look forward to reading this blog every week. May God bless us all through this beautiful journey called life. We are worth it, and our best is good enough ! Have a happy, healthy week. and keep chipping away 🙂

Howard,
I have all of your analogies memorized yet every time I reread one of them, it holds the same extraordinary power and marvelous boost to my motivation! This disease is not for whimps yet, thanks to you Howard, we are armed with the necessary weapons to win this battle! Thank you for your neverending love and support!

Sylvia, you are not alone and we are all sympathetic with what your going through! Know it is only temporary. There is something very therapeutic about being understood! With Howard as our fearless leader, we can NOT fail! We ALL will win the war!